


Wandered

by EverybodyLovesEggsy



Series: To Be Continued...? [5]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adoption, Albus Dumbledore Bashing, May Continue Story Later, Misguided Albus Dumbledore, One Shot, Orphanage, Pre-Hogwarts, The Continuation will have more bashing, it's light but it's there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-20 15:00:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30006654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EverybodyLovesEggsy/pseuds/EverybodyLovesEggsy
Summary: Inspired by so many stories mentioning how Harry could have wandered off before the Dursleys found him on their doorstep.What if toddler Harry woke up and wandered away from Privet Drive during the night and a muggle found him?Will continue story, when inspiration strikes, but for now enjoy my oneshot :)
Relationships: Harry Potter & Original Character(s), Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Series: To Be Continued...? [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1988845
Comments: 15
Kudos: 35





	Wandered

“Good luck, Harry,” Albus Dumbledore said before apparating away from Privet Drive.

The loud crack of his departure echoed in the neighborhood, waking the fifteen-month-old who had just been left on the doorstep of Number Four. Harry Potter looked around in confusion before letting out a whimper at the cold. When nobody responded the way the toddler knew his mother would have before the bad man with the green light came, he struggled his way out of his only blanket and carefully stood. Looking around again, Harry began to walk away from his basket, looking for someone to help him be warm.

The little boy made it all the way to the end of the street before anybody was around to notice him. The muggle, a young man who had just come home and parked his car after a night shift at work, became instantly concerned at seeing a toddler walking around alone in the middle of the night and shivering from the night’s chill. He quickly approached the little boy, brought him into his home to get warm, and then called the police. Fifteen minutes later, a pair of officers accompanied by a Child Protective Services agent showed up and kindly questioned Harry before the CPS agent took the boy to an orphanage and the officers proceeded to try and figure out where Harry had come from.

Due to the muggles knowing nothing of magic, the officers knew nothing of what happened to James and Lily Potter. They knew nothing of Harry’s godfather, Sirius Black, being arrested and incarcerated for a crime he was innocent of. Due to the Dursley’s not coming forward about the empty basket and note on their porch, they were never able to figure out exactly who Harry was beyond the boy’s first name and that somebody had hurt his mother. With the officers’ unable to find out who Harry’s family was, the CPS agent arranged for the little boy to stay in the orphanage until someone either came looking for him, fostered him, or adopted him.

For the following few years, Harry was raised there. At first, he was just yet another unfortunate little boy without a family. However, that didn’t last long. Just before his fourth birthday, nearly three years after he was placed in the orphanage, strange things began happening around the boy. It was then that the muggles were introduced to the accidental magic that any magical child had, though not usually as young as Harry. Due to the muggles’ lack of understanding what was causing the strange things to happen around Harry, some of the other children took to bullying him, while a few adults began treating him as a troublemaker or a monster. Other, both children and adult, simply ignored it. It was a rare few who accepted it and treated Harry no differently than had he been a muggle child. It was this varying treatment by the muggles that Harry, even at his young age, understood that a large majority of people didn’t like those who were different.

By the time Harry turned four, stories of his accidental magic spread to certain ears. It was these stories of “that strange child” that made it to one Celestia Selwyn-Black, a squib nurse who often treated the children in the orphanage when necessary. Upon hearing the stories of a few odd things that occurred around one of the orphanage’s children, Celestia recognized the sign of accidental magic. She quickly made arrangements for her and her husband, a squib lawyer named Marcus Selwyn-Black, to visit the child in question. Though both were squibs raised in the muggle world, they were aware of the magical world and had a few connections within it despite their second-class status. It was due to this knowledge that as soon as they saw the four-year-old, they recognized him as Harry Potter due to the infamous Potter hair and the reported lightning bolt scar.

“Marcus, why would Harry Potter have been put in an orphanage? He has other magical family, including the Black family since Dorea was his grandmother.”

“I don’t know,” The tall, dark-haired man whispered back. He then turned to the matron who had led them to where Harry was reading, “What do you know of how he ended up here?”

The matron had a sad look on her face and softly told them, “I was here when they brought him so I know more than most, but there isn’t much I can say. When he was no more a year old, according to the doctor that checked up on him, he was found in the middle of the night in the beginning of November, wandering around and shivering over near Privet Drive. The police investigated but they could not find where he could have come from. They only words they could make sense from Harry was his name and that something happened to his mother as he kept referencing a ‘bad man’. No one has come looking for him either, making me believe his mother was killed and there is no one else.”

Marcus frowned and nodded his understanding, trying to figure out how Harry could have possibly gotten from Godric’s Hollow to Privet Drive. According to everything they had heard, Albus Dumbledore knew where the boy was and refused to give up his location, claiming it was for the boy’s protection. If that were true, why was Harry wandering alone in the middle of the night?

Celestia broke him out of her thoughts as she asked, “The doctor that checked him out, did he find any injuries?”

“He cleaned up the scratch on Harry’s forehead and diagnosed pre-hypothermia, but we followed the recovery plan and Harry was fine by the next day. None of the people who looked at his scar can figure out why it hasn’t faded at all, but Harry is perfectly healthy.”

Celestia nodded, but mentally began planning a trip to Gringotts. It was likely the scar was just a curse scar, but considering the killing curse was not meant to leave any marks, it made her concerned, “Thank you. We’d like to meet him now, if that’s alright?”

“Of course,” the matron led the two closer to the boy, “Harry, I have a couple here who asked to meet you.”

The little boy looked up from the book he was reading to look up at the two adults as the matron walked back to the doorway to give them a little privacy. The scrutinizing look, making both of them – though more Marcus than Celestia – surprised, “Hi.”

“Hello, Harry. My name is Celestia, and this is my husband Marcus,” she smiled at the four-year-old as Marcus moved two chairs closer for them.

Marcus also smiled as they sat down and he spoke up, “It is very nice to meet you, Harry. We’ve heard good things about you.”

Harry narrowed his eyes a little, “Like what?”

Not letting the boy’s distrust put him off, Marcus nodded to the book in Harry’s lap, “Like how good a reader you are for your age and how often you ask for new books from the library when the older kids go there. Does that mean you like reading, Harry?”

He nodded slowly before looking between the two for a second. Speaking up a little hesitantly he told them, “I dunno know why the weird stuff happens.”

“We know and its perfectly okay. In fact, I’m going to tell you a little secret,” Celestia smiled secretively and leaned a little closer to whisper to Harry, “All that stuff is because you’re magic.”

Harry’s eyes widened a little, “Really?”

She nodded.

“Does that mean you have magic too?”

“No, I am afraid not, but we have family that is magic. That’s how we know you are magic.”

Harry frowned in thought, “Is magic a secret?”

“Very smart reasoning, Harry,” Marcus praised, “Yes, it is a secret. It’s why nobody here knows how to handle your magic.”

A brief look of disappointment crossed the boy’s face before it was gone, “Is that why you are here? To hide my magic?”

“No, not at all. We heard about what your accidental magic – that’s what the weird things that happen are called – was doing, and we wanted to meet you and hopefully make you a part of our family.”

The little boy looked at him in surprise and turned to look at Celestia.

She nodded her agreement with Marcus and explained a little further, “Harry, we know you don’t know each other that well yet, but we want to give you a home. No magical deserves to be somewhere they are misunderstood or feared because of your magic. We’d like to be the ones to give you a home where you are accepted and loved.”

Harry stared at them in disbelief for a minute until he finally whispered, “You want me?”

“Yes, Harry.”

“Okay,” Harry smiled tremulously at them.

Marcus beamed his pleasure while Celestia carefully, so as not to startle Harry, brought the boy into a hug. Marcus watched as the four-year-old looked surprised before nearly melting into the embrace. He beamed even more and gently squeezed Harry’s shoulder, who looked at him and smiled again.

**Author's Note:**

> So just a note in case some of the information I used isn't clear, especially if you don't know some of the info I based my people off of:  
> On the Black family tree, Marius Black was disowned for being a squib. Marius was the older brother of Dorea (who married Charlus Potter), and younger brother of Cassiopeia and Pollux (who is the father of Walburga and grandfather of Sirius and Regulus) My character, Marcus Black, is the grandson of Marius. I have him knowing about magic the way other squib children probably wouldn't because I imagine Dorea and her husband would have kept in touch with Marius despite her brother being a squib and disowned, so Dorea knew Marius's child and grandchild up until her death in 1977.  
> According to Potter wiki, the Selwyn family is 'likely extant'. There is a Death Eater that likely dies during the Second Wizarding War named Selwyn, but I am undecided on whether I will choose to make that Selwyn not exist, die in the First Wizarding War, be "good" (at least when it comes to family), or some other variation (such as being half-blood or something). Either way, Celestia Selwyn is a descendant of a squib Selwyn the way Marcus is the grandson of Marius. Due to the low number of Selwyns, the squib Selwyns were never disowned, just sent to the muggle world. The squibs then made sure to keep the knowledge of magic in the family just in case they one day were able to produce a magical offspring.  
> I have Marcus and Celestia listed as Selwyn-Black rather than just Black with Celestia being Black nee Selwyn for a reason. Some of you may be able to guess why, but I just wanted to be clear that there was a reason for the hyphenated last names.  
> According to Pottermore, Dorea Black and Charlus Potter are James Potter's aunt and uncle with his father and mother being Fleamont and Euphemia. However, I've always liked Harry having Dorea as his grandmother simply for the connection to the Black family. I plan the connection to be important later on when I eventually continue this one, so, Dorea and Charlus are James's parents and Harry's grandparents, with Fleamont and Euphemia either not existing or passed away and not important.  
> Everything else is pretty much as stated in books/movies, though I will give a little hint that Sirius does blood adopt Harry when he is made godfather so that Harry would have a bit more protection (though obviously Sirius is incarcerated still)
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed! As you can see I have plans for this one, but I would still love feedback, as always!


End file.
